“Watching Ovie in Prague!” (Photo credit: @mneuvirth30)
Dynamo Moscow traveled to Prague Tuesday to take on HC Lev Praha and if Alex Ovechkin took a peak at the crowd near his defending goal, he would see a familiar face. Washington Capitals goaltender Michal Neuvirth, who’s currently playing for Sparta Praha of the Czech Extraliga league, got tickets for the game to cheer Ovi on.
“I bowl strike!!” (GIF created by welshhockeyfan)
Ovechkin skates up ice.
Coming into Sunday’s away game with Slovan Bratislava, Alex Ovechkin had six points in six KHL games. Despite playing in five fewer matches than everyone else, Ovechkin was gaining ground on the league’s point leaders (82nd overall).
In Dynamo Moscow’s 3-2 victory Sunday, Ovi tied his Dynamo teammates Denis Kokarev and Dominik Granak for the team lead in points, tallying a goal, an assist, and three shots on goal in 16:22 of ice time against Slovan. The defending champions have now won 6 out of their last 7 games with the Capitals captain in their line-up.
Now let’s see that goal.
Note the extras from GoldenEye at top right. (Photo credit: dynamo.ru)
Monday was supposed to mark Alex Ovechkin‘s first meeting with 2012 first overall pick Nail Yakupov. When Dynamo Moscow hosted Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, Yakupov instead had to endure an international fiasco last week and was held out of the line-up by Coach Vladimir Golubovich despite being reinstated over the weekend.
Meanwhile, the Russian machine had his best game yet in a blue and white jersey, notching his second goal of the KHL season and tallying an assist in Dynamo’s 5-1 mollywhopping of Neftekhimik. Ovi had 5 shots in a season-low 14:44 ice time.
Video ahoy!
Photo credit: khl.ru
Coming into Wednesday’s game against Ak Bars Kazan, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin had already made an impact on Dynamo Moscow’s offense. While he hasn’t tallied an Ovechtrick or gone on a Goal Explosion® yet, Ovi has scored a point in both games he’s played, skated more minutes than any other Dynamo forward, and averaged 9 shots per outing. That’s pretty darn good for a guy who hasn’t had a training camp.
On Wednesday, Ovechkin continued that hot start, notching a secondary assist on a powerplay goal by Konstantin Volkov and scoring in the shootout during Dynamo’s 3-2 (SO) comeback win over Ak Bars. He had 3 shots in 21:36 of ice time.
Highlights are below the jump.
Photo credit: I. Ignatovich
On Thursday, when Alex Ovechkin made his debut for Dynamo Moscow, the stands at Small Sports Arena in Luzhniki, Moscow were about 60% full. Sunday’s match was a different story, as a sold-out crowd of 8,097 packed into the seats to see Ovechkin’s Dynamo take on Ilya Kovalchuk’s SKA — Kovy’s first game in the KHL.
Fifteen minutes into the first period, the crowd was treated to a bit of history as Ovechkin scored his first KHL goal, also his first regular season goal in Russia since 2005.
YouTuber AXLPNZ captured the crowd’s reaction and the PA announcer’s call. The roar of the crowd is pretty cool.
“I deed it!! I finally score!!” (Photo credit: Dynamo Moscow)
Thursday night at Small Sports Arena in Luzhniki, Moscow, Alex Ovechkin returned to the Russian team that put him on the world’s stage as a teenager. And his performance did not disappoint.
In Moscow Dynamo’s 7-2 win over Dinamo Minsk, Ovechkin had seven shots, two big hits, and recorded his first ever KHL point, a powerplay assist, in 17:38 of ice time.
Highlights of the game are below the jump.
Alex Ovechkin and copious triforces. (Photo credit: Sport-Express)
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has reportedly agreed to a contract with his hometown team, Dynamo Moscow. According to Sport-Express’ Yuri Golyshak, the Caps’ star winger will sign the deal and an official announcement will be made “in the near future.” The contract will give Ovechkin the flexibility to leave if the NHL lockout ends.
Alex Ovechkin skating with Dynamo in 2010. (Photo credit: Sport-Express)
Over the weekend, it was widely reported that Alex Ovechkin‘s former Russian Super League team, Dynamo Moscow, would try to sign the Capitals captain if the NHL enters into a lockout on September 15th. According to rsport.ru, Dynamo general manager Andrei Safronov said to the press, “[Leafs’ forward Leo] Komarov (who played on the team last year) will come. We will talk with Ovechkin. It will be up to the head coach.” And headlines across Russia and North America followed.
Well apparently, not everyone in Dynamo’s front office are as open to Ovechkin returning — even for a potential asking price of $3 million (plus insurance). In an extended meeting with the press on Sunday, president Arkady Rotenberg distanced himself from Safronov’s earlier comments.
Slava Kozlov (Dynamo) and Nikita Pivtsakin (Avangard) go at each other during regular season Avangard – Dynamo game (Photo credit: OldWest.su)
The History
These two teams have met 66 times. Dynamo has won 35 of those match-ups, Avangard 23, with eight tie games. The teams have squared off in the playoffs five times– with Dynamo winning in 1995, 2005 and 2008, and Avangard winning in 2003 and 2004. But they have never played each other in the finals. Until now.
The most famous series between the two was the 2004-05 semifinals. After getting eliminated by the Omsk Hawks two straight times, Dynamo (featuring Pavel Datsyuk, Alex Ovechkin and Andrei Markov) tried to stop Avangard (with Jaromir Jagr, Oleg Tverdovsky and one of the greatest lines in modern Russian hockey history: Maxim Sushinsky, Dmitry Zatonsky and Alexander Prokopiev).
By 8 years ago
When talking about the KHL player Leo Komarov, you have many different things you can describe him as: fan favorite, agitator, hitter or secondary scorer. Knowing that he was raised in Finland you understand Komarov is like Jarkko Ruutu or Sean Bergenheim. He is the type of guy you hate to play against.
Komarov, who was born in Estonia but is a duel citizen of Russia and Finland, is one of the Russian league’s brightest young stars. He racked up 26 points (including 14 goals) while registering 70 penalty minutes over 52 games in the 2010-11 KHL regular season, and also played in the Kontinental Hockey League’s All-Star Game. In the playoffs, which ended, well, earlier than expected for Dynamo, Komarov posted a remarkable four goals in just six games.
By 9 years ago
